Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Involvement in Closing of Home Sales

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Thank you for sharing this list David. It's most helpful. 

Ann zabaldo
Takomavillage Cohousing
Washington DC

Sent from my iPhone
All typos ... curtesy of Siri  :-)

> On Jul 16, 2017, at 11:00 AM, David Heimann <heimann [at] theworld.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello Julie and everyone,
> 
>    We (JP Cohousing) have a procedure called "clearness" (similar to the 
> Quaker meaning of the term), which takes place when a prospective buyer is 
> serious considering making the commitment to buy.  In clearness, a committee 
> of three or so residents meets with the buyer(s) to go over the following 
> questions:
> 
>    1. Do you have any questions about read the Community Values and do you 
> accept them?
> 
>    2. Do you understand the Condo Documents, including the Prospective Living 
> Here Guide? Do you have any questions? Will you abide by JPC policies?
> 
>    3. Do you understand and agree to abide by and use the Consensus Process?
> 
>    4. Do all the adult members of your household understand that Cohousing is 
> a participatory process which included attending general meetings, joining a 
> committee and performing 4 hours/month of work tasks related to JP Cohousing?
> 
>    5. Living in JP Cohousing means making community a priority in your life. 
> Is this something you are willing and able to do?
> 
>    6. We would like to share some examples of how we operate as a community, 
> and ask for relevant examples from your current life.
> 
>    7. What do you have to offer the JP Cohousing community?
> 
>    8. What are you prepared to give up to live in community?
> 
>    9. Do you have any other questions that we can answer at this time?
> 
> 
>    This includes acknowledging and agreeing to the condo documents, but also 
> goes much further into establishing that the buyer understands and accepts 
> (or better yet looks forward to) what they are getting into.
> 
>    While clearness is not a process that approves or disapproves a purchase, 
> it is a process that makes sure that everyone, particularly the buyer(s), 
> goes into the purchase and moving in with all eyes open.
> 
> Regards,
> David Heimann
> Jamaica Plain Cohousing
> 
> 
> Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2017 10:30:30 -0700
> From: drmaryann49 [at] mac.com
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Involvement in Closing of Home Sales
> Message-ID: <B03A1EFB-1DCE-4C46-9D10-586FEBDBE993 [at] mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=utf-8
> 
> We have a list of documents that we provide to the title company to share 
> with the buyer, including previous year-end financial statements, current 
> year budget, Bylaws, CC&Rs, reserve fund summary, policy and procedure manual 
> (Villagers Guide) and a letter acknowledging receipt of these.
> 
> We have a very active Marketing Committee who introduces potential members to 
> the community, talks about living here, often shows available units, etc. So 
> these documents are not the first time purchasers should have heard about 
> these items which are also required by state law.
> 
> Mary Ann
> Manzanita Village, Prescott, AZ
> 
> ?
> ?Energy creates energy.  It is by spending myself that I become rich? - Sarah 
> Bernhardt
> 
> Mary Ann Clark drmaryann49 [at] mac.com
> Check out DrMaryAnn's Academy at http://drmaryann.wordpress.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jun 15, 2017, at 2:18 PM, Julie Gallagher <jgall63 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>> My thought about putting it into the sale contract wasn't so much to
>> educate the buyer as to have the buyer affirmatively sign something saying
>> they agree to be governed by the By-Laws and the policies adopted by the
>> HOA. Then, if later down the road, the buyer is refusing to comply with a
>> significant community requirement, there would be something to point to to
>> say, "you signed this, agreeing to follow the rules." (Not that it would
>> have much in the way of teeth to enforce, but enforcement is a different
>> issue.) To me, that's stronger than saying, "we have a Declaration and
>> By-Laws saying residents have to comply with the rules, which you may or
>> may not have read."
>> We haven't had a problem yet that this is trying to solve. You may have
>> guessed that I'm an attorney, so I'm kind of hung up on legal documents and
>> whether people are obligated to follow them. I fully agree, Ann, that it's
>> critical to educate buyers in advance, which is something we don't have a
>> formal process for. Our immediate situation is that a resident has listed
>> her home with a realtor, after two years of "sort of" marketing it through
>> the cohousing website and our community website. (Our houses are difficult
>> to sell because of our location.) The first potential buyers the realtor
>> showed it to were an elderly couple who looked rather frail. Since then,
>> she has come to a potluck and hopefully become more familiar with the
>> community. But she has also taken a group of other realtors through the
>> house to encourage them to show it to their clients. The owner doesn't want
>> community members to come on too strong about cohousing and possibly scare
>> buyers away.
>> Julie
>> 
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